Effectiveness Bank web site Hot topics
Supported by  Alcohol Research UK web site   Society for the Study of Addiction web site
Effectiveness Bank hot topics for October to December 2017
As enthusiasm for universal screening and brief interventions for risky drinking wanes, three major UK studies give clues as to why. While the UK government promotes ‘full recovery’ and reintegration, there are concerns that extending beyond core addiction treatment to ‘wrap-around’ care has become less feasible in ‘austerity’ Britain. Prochaska and DiClemente’s Cycle of Change model is ubiquitous, but is its utility compromised by describing only one sort (and not necessarily the most important sort) of change process?

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‘My GP says I drink too much’: screening and brief intervention
In the absence of greater obstacles to availability, widespread screening to identify and then briefly advise risky drinkers has been the great hope for improved alcohol-related public health. This major hot topic update guides you through the studies which exposed questionable effectiveness and patchy implementation, leading to today’s less ambitious plans.

‘Wrap-around’ care in substance use treatment
Could ‘wrap-around’ care be a realistic option for helping people with multiple, severe, and overlapping problems in substance use treatment, and should treatment services have the flexibility to determine the extent to which this would be implemented in practice, or would this risk a lottery of comprehensive care?

‘Cycle of Change’: change promoter or benevolent fiction?
Matching interventions to the client’s stage usually doesn’t help, and it only a describes one sort of change process which perhaps is not the most important kind, but there may still be reasons to retain Prochaska and DiClemente’s ubiquitous Cycle of Change model.


The Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank offers a free mailing list service updating subscribers to UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Findings is supported by Alcohol Research UK and the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.